Sanitary spray gun



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Nov. 17, 1953 Filed July 9, 1951 w. BEACH 2,659,628

SANITARY SPRAY GUN 5 Sheets-Sheet l 7 q as v INVENTOR.

2 1 Howmen WHRREN BEECH IS RT'TORN 8 NOV. 17, 1953 w BEACH 2,659,628

SANITARY SPRAY GUN Filed July 9, 1951 3' She ets-Sheet 2 Z Z% %M///////J INVENTOR.

Howmeo WARREN BEACH HIS HTTORNEIS Nov. 17, 1953 w, BEACH 2,659,628

SANITARY SPRAY GUN Filed July 9, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 T jza INVENTOR.

HownQo WARREN BEACH Muz k/ WW HIS ATTORNEYS Patented Nov. 17, 1953SANITARY SPRAY GUN Howard Warren Beach, Far Hills, N. J., assignor toEclipse Air Brush 00., Newark, N. J., a corporation of New JerseyApplication July 9, 1951, Serial No. 235,828

6 Claims. (01. 299-86) This invention relates to a sanitary spray gunsuitable for spraying edible fluids onto food. For example, it may beused to spray coat cookies or buns with a sugar solution, to spray pieswith the liquid which gives them a glossy finish, and for other similaruses.

Health departments will not usually permit the use of such a deviceunless it can be completely disassembled so as to freely expose allparts for periodic cleaning. The spray gun parts should permit theirsterilization when it is required. Disassembly and reassembly of such agun should be quickly accomplished with adequate simplicity to be withinthe capabilities of those primarily familiar with the cooking arts. Inaddition to these requirements, such a gun should provide a satisfactoryspray and be operatively reliable.

One object of the present invention is to provide a spray gun whichfunctions like a paint spray gun but which meets the above outlinedrequirements. Another object is to provide a simple spray gun whichthrough the use of compressed air will atomize and spray a liquid andwhich may be completely disassembled without tools quickly so as to makeall of its surfaces accessible for thorough cleaning. Other objects maybe inferred from the following:

The accompanying drawings illustrate an example of a spray gun embodyingthe present invention. This gun was particularly designed to function asa sanitary spray gun which satisfactorily meets the requirements usuallymade by health departments. However, the gun may be used for generalspray coating purposes, it being particularly adapted for use when thecharacter of the sprayed material requires the material to be completelycleaned from the gun periodically or at the termination of each sprayingoperation.

In these drawings the various figures are as follows:

Fig. 1 shows a side view of the gun;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken on the line 2-2 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a front view of the gun;

Fig. 4 is a section showing schematically the construction of the gunsvalve and the valve controlling elements, the valve being shown in offposition;

Fig. 5 duplicates Fig. 4 excepting that the valve is shown in its onposition;

Fig. 6 is a front end view of the inner tip of the guns nozzle or sprayhead assembly; and

Fig. 7 is a side view showing how the gun may be adapted to function asan automatic spray The gun, illustrated by Figures 1 through 6, has ahand grip I having a top 2 with a screw 3 projecting upwardly therefrom.The hand grip I may have a threaded hole in its top 2 into which thelower end of the screw 3 is screwed. The top of the screw 3 may beprovided with an unthreaded extension formed into a hook 4 which may beused to turn the screw 3 and also as a means for hanging up the gun.

The gun body 5 is formed with two longitudinally extending passages 6and 7 intersected by a transverse bore 8. The body has a front endformed with a forwardly facing annular shoulder 9 having a relativelyreduced neck H3 projecting forwardly therefrom. The front end of thisneck forms a male seat II. The passage 8 at its forward end opens to theface of the shoulder 9 and the other passage 7 at its forward end opensto the end of the neck It).

The body 5 is provided with two backwardly projecting nipples l2constructed to telescope inside of flexible hose connections l3. Thesenipples straddle the screw 6. Cross head clamps i4 and [5 areconstructed respectively to underlie and overlie the two nipples 13,each clamp having a hole through which the screw 3 passes, the screw 3extending upwardly like a post. The clamps Id and I5 may be made withsemi-cylindrical grooves which clamp the nipples l2 which are sandwichedbetween them. The hose connections l3 may be pushed completely over thenipples 12 so as to be also clamped by the cross head clamps l4 and It.A wing nut l6 screws down on the screw 3 on top of the upper clamp l5 soas to exert the clamping force. The hook 4 is shaped so that this wingnut 16 and the clamps l4 and I5 may be slipped completely off the screw3 during disassembly of the gun.

A rotary plug valve l! is removably fitted rotatively in the bore 8 bybeing inserted through the right-hand side of this bore. This bore 8 isshown as being tapered slightly as is the interfitting plug valve H. Therotary valve is held at its position by having a screw shank l8 whichprojects through the left-hand end of the bore 8 and is provided with awing nut IS. A spring washer 2B is positioned between the nut l9 and theadjacent side of the body 5 so as to keep the plug valve l1 seatedfirmly and free from looseness in the bore. The right-hand end of theplug valve I1 is provided with a flange 2| which may be grasped so thatthe plug valve may be quickly removed after manually unscrewing the nut19.

The plug valve I! has two transverse passages 6a and la respectivelyregistering with the passages 6 and i when the plug valve is turned asshown in Fig. 5. When turned to the position shown by Fig.4 the valve isclosed. The passage it has end openings which are elongate:circumferentially respecting the plug valve and the bore 8. V

The plug valve I! has a transverse hole 22 formed through ittransversely to the passages 6a and la and offset suificiently to befree therefrom. That is to say, the hole 22 does not have anycommunication with the passages 6a and Ta. An upwardly extending slot 23is formed in the top portion of the body and a generally correspondingdownward slot 24 is formed in the bottom portion of the body, and theseslots ant bod The upper end Q: the lever 25 has a groove 26 and theshank of the screw 3, which projects upwardly behind this erid of thelever 25, has a corresponding groove 21. A coil tension spring 28 hashook ends 29 whig'ah are releasablyhooked around the grooves ZBand 2'!respectively. This arrangement biasesthe lever 25 to turn the plug valvell to its off position as shown by Fig. 4. The spring also serves toposition the lever 25in the hole 22, releaseof the Spring 28, byunhooking its ends, permitting the lever 25 to slide freely from the gunassembly. As shown by Fig. 1 the lower end of the lever 25 may beprovided with a finger piece30 so that it functions as a trigger. Theslots 23 and are mutually oriented so that their respective ends holdthe plug valve [1 against the tension of the spring 28 when the valve isin its off position, and these slots provide room so that the lever 25may be swung against the spring bias to rotate the valve I! to its openposition.

The nozzle head assemblyis formed by an inner nozzle tip 3| having afemale seat 32 releasably fitted on the male seat II. This tip 3! isformed with an outer substantially. conical male seat 33 formed with oneor more flat segments 34, as shown by Fig. 6. The tip is hollow and hasa forwardly pointing orifice 35, and it is generally conical with acylindrical base, excepting for the flats 34.

This inner tip 3| may be simply constructed so as to be entirely freefrom crevices or small passages other than the single necessary passage35. As noted, it may be made as a conical part having a shortcylindrical base section, with flats machined in its exterior to providethe segments 34. Ordinarily more than one of the segments 34 areprovided and they are mutually oriented to form balanced flows throughthe nozzle head, as will be appreciated from the followmg.

I The nozzle assembly also includes a'n outer tip 36 having a conicalfemale seat 31 fitted on the inner tips male seat 33. Now it can be seenthat the flat segments 34 form flow passages which completely open upfor cleaning when the two nozzle tips are separated from each other.This outer tip 39 has an outwardly flanged inner end 38 engaged by aunion nut 39 which is internally threaded so as to screw onto theannular end of the gun surrounding and defining the flange 9. Both partsare appropriately threaded. This collar or union nut 39 is shaped toclose in a. space into whichgthe passage 6 opens so that fluid flowingthrough this passage flows through the passageways defined by the fiatsegments 34 4 of the inner tip. The forward end of the outer tip 36 isprovided with an orifice 40 which may be shaped as required to producethe desired type of spray.

As the gun is shown by Fig. '7 a bracket la is substituted for the grip[and this bracket is mounted ori top of ah electric solenoid 4|. Thesame screw 3 projects upwardly from the bracket la but the hook 4 iseliminated since it is not needed in this kind of application. A leverexte'iisih 30a is shown substituted for the finger piece ortrigger 30,this part 30a pivotally connecting a rod 42 with the armature 43 of thesolenoid 4|. Each time the solenoid 41 is energized the valve of the gunis turned to it's on pb's'itloh;

The illustrated gun may be used in the normal fashion for spray coatingpurposes. Compressed air may be supplied through the passage I andliquid through the passage 6, the nozzle head assembly atomizihg theliquid and forming the spray. Theelongated openings of the passage I'dpermits the air to go on and off ahead of the liquid. Assuming the gunis to be used with edible materials it must be periodically dismantled,cleaned and perhaps sterilized, aha reassembled. I Ordinarily this isdone by persons relat'ively unskilled with the mechanical art's, Withthe above in mind the advantages of the illustrated gun become apparent.For examine. let it be assumedthat the gun has handled a compositionincluding milk and sugar. Immediatelyafter its use it is necessary todisassemble, clean, sterilize, and reassemble the parts.

'l [he nozzle assembly may be quickly taken apart by unscrewing theunion nut 35, this nut slipping forwardly "ofi the outer tip and theouter tip falling areal-"dry off of the inner tip, the latter then beingfre'for removal from the neck I 0. Excepting for the absolutelynecessary spray orifices 35 and 4| none brine parts have any cracks orsmall passageways, so cleaning and sterilizing is simple and easy. M QBy unhooking the spring 2d the lever 25 may be withdrawn from the hole22 and by unscrewm the nut 19 theplug valve 11 may bepulled from thebore 8. Again, all of the parts may be easily cleaned and sterilized.

Finally, simply by unscrewing the him It the clamp l5 may be removed sothat the gun body 5 is freed from the hand grip I. If necessary thescrew 3 may be unscrewed from the handgrip. The hose connections l3 are,of course, simply pulled from the nipples l2. Thus the entire gun isdismantled. A V I a M Itcan be iseen from the foregoing that dismantlingof the gun is substantially foolproof. This also applies to reassemblyafter the cleaning and sterilization. Each of the parts is distinctivein appearance and can be assembled with other parts only in the propermanner. Thus both disassembly and reassembly may be accomplished withoutany material mechanical ability. when disassembled every part hw be"easily cleaned and may be sterilized.

It is to be understood that the hose c'orir'iections [3 are of aflexible nature, an adequately inert flexible type of plastic tubingbeing preferred for handling food mixtures.

I claim:

v 1 Asanitary spray gun including a gun body in which is formed 'alongitudinally extending passage intersected by 'a transverse bcir, saidbody having a front end constructed to mount a nozzle connecting withsaid passage in front of said bore and having means for connecting afluid feed with said passage in back of said bore, and a rotary plugvalve fitted in said bore and having a transverse passage registeringwith said passage in said body to control flow through said body passageby rotation of said valve, said plug valve being removable through anend of said bore and said body having releasable means for holding saidvalve in said bore, said plug valve having a transverse hole and saidbody having longitudinal slots registering with said hole, and a leverreleasably fitted through said slots and hole and projecting at bothends beyond said body, a spring releasably connected to one of saidprojecting ends, and an anchor for said spring and positioned to causesaid spring to bias said plug valve to turn to a predetermined position.

2. A sanitary spray gun including a gun body in which is formed alongitudinally extending passage intersected by a transverse bore, saidbody having a front end constructed to mount a nozzle connecting withsaid passage in front of said bore and having means for connecting afluid feed with said passage in back of said bore, and a rotary plugvalve fitted in said bore and having a transverse passage registeringwith said passage in said body to control flow through said body passageby rotation of said valve, said plug valve being removable through anend of said bore and said body having releasable means for holding saidvalve in said bore, said plug valve having a transverse hole and saidbody having longitudinal slots registering with said hole, and a leverreleasably fitted through said slots and hole and projecting at bothends beyond said body, a spring releasably connected to one of saidprojecting ends, and an anchor for said spring and positioned to causesaid spring to bias said plug valve to turn to a predetermined position,said body having a hand grip projecting transversely therefrom behindthe other projecting end of said lever so that the latter may be used asa trigger.

3. A sanitary spray gun including a gun body in which is formed alongitudinally extending passage intersected by a transverse bore, saidbody having a front end constructed to mount a nozzle connecting withsaid passage in front of said bore and having means for connecting afluid feed with said passage in back of said bore, and a rotary plugvalve fitted in said bore and having a transverse passage registeringwith said passage in said body to control flow through said body passageby rotation of said valve, said plug valve being removable through anend of said bore and said body having releasable means for holding saidvalve in said bore, said plug valve having a transverse hole and saidbody having longitudinal slots registering with said hole, and a leverreleasably fitted through said slots and hole and projecting at bothends beyond said body, a spring releasably connected to one of saidprojecting ends, and an anchor for said spring and positioned to causesaid spring to bias said plug valve to turn to a predetermined position,said body having a hand grip projecting transversely therefrom behindthe other projecting end of said lever so that the latter may be used asa trigger, said fluid feed connecting means comprising a backwardlyextending nipple constructed to telescope inside of a hose connection,and said anchor comprising a post projecting upwardly from said handgrip past said nipple and behind said body,

said post having a clamping member construce ed to clamp said nipple andhose to said hand grip and said post having a releasable fasteningexerting force on said clamping member.

4. A sanitary spray gun including a gun body in which is formed alongitudinally extending passage intersected by a transverse bore, saidbody having a front-end constructed to mount a nozzle connecting withsaid passage in front of said bore and having means for connecting afluid feed with said passage in back of said bore, and a rotary plugvalve fitted in said bore and having a transverse passage registeringwith said passage in said body to control flow through said body passageby rotation of said valve, said plug valve being removable through anend of said bore and said body having releasable means for holding saidvalve in said bore, said plug valve having a transverse hole and saidbody having longitudinal slots registering with said hole, and a leverreleasably fitted through said slots and hole and projecting at bothends beyond said body, a spring releasably connected to one of saidprojecting ends, and an anchor for said spring and positioned to causesaid spring to bias said plug valve to turn to a predetermined position,said body having a hand grip projecting transversely therefrom behindthe other projecting end of said lever so that the latter may be used asa trigger, said fluid feed connecting means comprising a backwardlyextending nipple constructed to telescope inside of a hose connection,and said anchor comprisin a post projecting upwardly from said hand grippast said nipple and behind said body, said post having a clampingmember constructed to clamp said nipple and hose to said hand grip andsaid post having a releasable fastening exerting force on said clampingmember, said spring comprising a tension coil spring with hook endsrespectively hooked around upwardlyprojecting ends of said post andlever.

5. A sanitary spray gun comprising a mount; having a top with a screwprojecting upwardly therefrom, a gun body in which is formed two)longitudinally extending passages intersected by a transverse bore, saidbody having a front end formed with a forwardly facing annular shoulderhaving a relatively reduced neck projecting forwardly therefrom withsaid neck having an end forming a male seat, one of said passagesopening to the face of said shoulder and the other passage opening tothe end of said neck, said body having two backwardly projecting nipplesconstructed to telescope inside of hose connections and straddling saidscrew, a cross head clamp constructed to overlie said nipples and havinga hole through which said screw passes and a nut screwed on said screwon top of said cross head clamp, a rotary valve plug remo-vably fittedin said bore and having two transverse passages respectively registeringwith said passages in said body when said valve is turned, releasablemeans holding said valve in said bore, said valve having a transversehole formed therethrough transversely to and free from said passagestherethrough and said body having upwardly and downwardly extendingslots formed therethrough and registering with said hole, a leverslidably passed through said slots and said hole and projecting aboveand below beyond said body, a coil spring connected to said screw abovesaid nut and to the upwardly projecting end of said lever and biasingsaid valve to turn toward one position, a hollow inner nozzle tip havinga female segment, an outer nozzle'tiphaving a substantiallyconical'female seat fittedron said inner'tips 'male seat withsaid'segmentforming-a fiow passage; and a collar rotatively' engagingthe outside of said outer tip, said-body and said collar-havinginterfitting screw threads and beinggremovably screwed together.

6. A spray gun including a gun body inwhich is formed a transverse boreand a passage intersected by said bore, means for connecting a nozzle toone end of said passage,- means for connecting a fiuid supply vto theother end of i said passage, a rotary plug valve releasably fitted insaid bore and having a transversepassage'registering with said passageformed in said gun body upon rotation of .said'plug valve, said plugvalve being removable through one end of said bore and having formed, alever releasably passed through said hole in said portionof saidplug'valve and having opposite ends extending oppositely beyond said forsaid spring and positioned to cause said spring to bias said valvetoturn in a predetermined direction, said spring being releasablyconnected between said anchor and said levers nd.

HOWARD WARREN BEACH.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 1,539,846 Jansson June 2, 1925 2,484,942 Guise Oct. 18, 19492,540,970 Waeselynick Feb. 6, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date341,435 France Oct. 4, 1904

